Quigley

IN AT NYU AND OHIO!!!! NYU was one of my top
choices!! I can't stop crying I'm so happy!!!

Claiming a UNC admit. Comparative

Yeah.  That, or if only someone invented a technology to send a form message to multiple recipients at the same time.

Yeah.  That, or if only someone invented a technology to send a form message to multiple recipients at the same time.

Yeah.  That, or if only someone invented a technology to send a form message to multiple recipients at the same time.

Yeah.  That, or if only someone invented a technology to send a form message to multiple recipients at the same time.

LOL guys. Just got a second rejection letter from Michigan, except it's clearly not for me (I have no idea what the Bunche institute is). Posting in case someone else recognizes it. 
 
"I'm writing in my capacity as the director of grad admissions in Political Science at the University of Michigan. It was nice to meet you at the Bunche Summer Institute last June and see you again at our Emerging Scholars conference in September, and I am glad you were interested in our program. Our admissions committee has now finished its review, and unfortunately we are not able to admit you. We received a large number of incredibly competitive applications and were able to admit less than ten percent of the applicants.

I am sorry to be the bearer of what must be disappointing news. I do wish you the best of luck in your applications and for your future in general."

jazzrap, RWGB and adaptations,
 
I am humbled and grateful that you all remember me from a couple of years ago. That kind of support is truly invaluable to me. I spent a fair amount of time discussing the specifics of my qualifications and goals with you and some others during that cycle and it was in no small part those conversations that led me to risk a couple years in a terminal master's. I'm elated that it's paid off. I hope the same happens for you, jazzrap. My story and lots of others here suggests that it could.
 
I think the best thing that I've taken from my two years of intermittent posting at Gradcafe is that there passionate, compassionate, people in this field, whatever challenges lie ahead.
 
To all my babies with me this cycle: rest up. We've got a busy week next week.

Hmmm my phone must be broken, no call from Berkeley has come in.

In at UC Irvine! Finally, SOMETHING!

i find drinking at work helps...

Hmmm my phone must be broken, no call from Berkeley has come in.

So I guess the person at Michigan is manually re-typing these rejections one-by-one.  Mine should be here by Wednesday.

Hmmm my phone must be broken, no call from Berkeley has come in.

The day is still young.  Things could turn around by this evening.

The day is still young.  Things could turn around by this evening.

also can we take a moment to appreciate how silly and old the Massachusetts Institute of TECHNOLOGY's application site is?

This might be the most uplifting thing that I've read in a couple of days...  I really want to get into Michigan!   The rest can all send me hate mail if I get into Michigan (with funding of course, don't want to "get what I wish for" in one of those bad ways... haha).

Like one of those 64oz slushie mugs??

Yay, I finally heard something back! I have an informal phone interview next week with a committee member at UF. only downside is they are accepting only masters with the chance to move on to doctorate. I'm so nervous.

Yogi Berra said it best- "It ain't over till it's over." We know next to nothing about how grad committees work, when they'll release everything, which information is legitimate, or how to interpret it properly. Until I have a letter that says my name and some variant of "NOT THIS YEAR BEOOOTCCHHH" (which actually would be great) It's an unknown.
 
in the meantime, a propos of nothing, here's some excellent advice about men's fashion and life in general http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2009/12/shibumi.html

While I did apply to a couple (2) non-Top 10 schools, I am not sure I would have attended a lower ranked program. All of my advisors told me NOT to go to a non-Top 10 school because job prospects are abysmal. That's true of top ranked schools as well as lower ranked ones. The probability that you'll be an adjunct after the process is high, but it's slightly lower for the highest ranks of political science programs. It's not necessarily fair, but only applying to the tops schools does have a logic to it.[And that logic isn't just elitism.]

University of Washington has a considerable suicide risk due to miserable weather for 308 days per year.  

I should be trying to sleep instead of browsing GradCafé and -gasp- drinking a pepsi.

I would never condone the use of the term "safety school" to disparage a program or the people attending and it's hard to imagine why it would be used here in any other way. A person's career aspirations are deeply personal and contextual. While I always, always counsel for a realistic apprasial of which investments will help meet those aspirations, it is not my place to question the validity of the goals themselves. If U of Bumblefuck's program offers you the opportunity to achieve a career and life that will make you happy, then your admission is to be celebrated and screw anyone that tells you otherwise.
 
This applies equally to people who apply only to the top ten, though. Speaking as someone who applied only among the twenty schools that consider themselves top ten, I can say that few programs of lower rank offer a high enough chance at landing my dream job to justify leaving my lucrative and established career. If I were 25 again I would doubtless be more willing to take risks to get the dream job and more satisfied if I fell a little bit short. But I am not 25 again and the five years it takes to get a PhD will set back my retirement plan fifteen. I'd better fucking love that job. My application strategy reflects my willingness to forego a PhD if I don't get admitted. It also reflects the well-researched conclusion that I have a higher chance of admission at a top program than the straight statistics suggest.
 
My strategy does not deny the stochastic nature of the application process. It also does not deny the extremely imperfect correlation between the rank or a program and the quality of the training it offers. And it absolutely does not pass judgment on the (hopefully well-considered) attempts of others to achieve the career objectives that are special to them.
 
I think as long as we all assume that we have each chosen to compete for the opportunities that can provide the lives we want, we can be happy for those that get admitted and commiserate with those that don't.